[1][2][3] Another six men living abroad, including Shawn Christian, who later served as mayor of Pitcairn, were tried on 41 charges in a separate trial in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2005.
[5] The defence maintained that the UK never made a formal claim to Pitcairn, and never officially informed the islanders that British legislation, such as the Sexual Offences Act 1956,[note 1] was applicable to them.
A delay of the trial until the United Kingdom's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) decided on an additional appeal was rejected.
The islanders had for many decades tolerated what others classify as sexual promiscuity, even among the very young, claimed to be in line with traditional values of their Polynesian ancestors.
[8] In 1999 Gail Cox, a police officer from Kent, UK serving a temporary assignment on Pitcairn, began uncovering allegations of sexual abuse.
Pitcairn Public Prosecutor Simon Moore (an Auckland Crown Solicitor who was the first lawyer appointed to the position by the British government for the purposes of the investigation) held the file.
[9] Australian Seventh-day Adventist pastor Neville Tosen, who spent two years on Pitcairn around the turn of the millennium, said that on his arrival, he had been taken aback by the conduct of the children.
[10] Tosen opined that accounts of the Pitcairners' past transformation by Christianity, once popularised in missionary tracts, told only one side of the story.
He noted that 13 of the original settlers were murdered, many in fights over women, before John Adams, the sole surviving mutineer, pacified them with the help of the Bible.
Three judges, several prosecution and defence lawyers, other court staff, and six journalists travelled from New Zealand to the island in late September for the seven-week trial.
They and other women present at the meeting, who endorsed their view that underage sex was normal on Pitcairn, stated emphatically that all of the alleged rape victims had been willing participants.
Some present at the Big Fence meeting sat "silent and appeared ill at ease," giving reporters the impression that they did not hold the same views.
[14] While many islanders were fearful that the outcome of the trial could sound the death-knell of the small country, others expressed optimism that it could mark a new beginning for Pitcairn as people previously excluded from the power structure would find themselves needed and appreciated for their skills and contributions.
Four days later on 4 October, a former islander, in a written statement read out by police, alleged that Mayor Steve Christian had raped her twice in 1972 when she was 12, once in bushland and once in a boat moored at Bounty Bay.
"[18] He called her "a cold and cruel and vengeful liar who would stop at nothing to draw attention back to herself ... a woman scorned," whose complaint to the police was nothing other than revenge for his having abandoned her.
[18] Public prosecutor Simon Moore rejected this defence, charging that Christian had exploited their ten-year age gap and his superior physical strength for his own advantage.
[18] He added that, after reading a leaflet about sexual harassment distributed by Constable Cox, the girl had realized that Christian's treatment of her was unacceptable.
On 26 October 2004, prosecutor Simon Moore told Radio New Zealand that the charges and the verdicts were only the tip of the iceberg, accounting for only one-third of the cases police learned about when they began their investigations.
He said that more charges were due to be laid involving people now living in Australia and New Zealand, but he declined to provide further details citing "extensive name suppression orders in place.
[20] Auckland lawyer Christopher Harder, who represented one of the accused, appealed for mercy in view of the social devastation he said would be caused by the imprisonment of most of the island's able-bodied men.
Professor John Connell of the University of Sydney said that if the men were imprisoned, they would have to be released temporarily whenever needed to man the longboat, without which the island could not connect with the outside world.
Public Defender Paul Dacre called on the court to impose sentences in keeping with the unique circumstances of the island society.
Dennis Christian emailed his principal victim to apologise and expressed his "deep remorse," the court was told, and Dave Brown made a statement through his lawyer that he "regretted any distress caused."
Elaborating on Chief Justice Blackie's statement, Bryan Nicholson of the British High Commission in New Zealand said, "The penalties were tailored to Pitcairn and take into account the unique isolation, population of less than 50, and the dependence of manpower.
"[25] None of the sentences were carried out until 2006, pending a ruling by the Privy Council on the legal validity of British sovereignty and judicial authority on Pitcairn.
Bryan Nicolson, a spokesman for the British High Commission in New Zealand, announced on 30 October that Governor Richard Fell had formally dismissed Steve Christian from the mayoralty, and his son, Randy, from the chairmanship of the powerful Internal Committee.
On 8 November 2004, the Island Council named Christian's sister, Brenda, interim mayor pending elections scheduled for 15 December 2004.
Defence lawyers argued that as Pitcairn's colonial rulers had never enforced British law, the six men convicted of sex crimes could not have known that their acts were illegal,[27] a claim rejected as "extraordinary" by public prosecutor Simon Moore.
[30] Former Pitcairn resident Shawn Christian, 29, then living in Australia, announced a legal challenge to the validity of New Zealand lawyers' and judges' participation in a trial in a British colony on 27 November 2005.
Randall Christian's appeal against conviction of indecent assault of a girl aged under 13 was upheld, but that decision did not affect his sentence of six years on other charges.